Tag: your life on purpose Archives - The Traveling Cup

I want to do so much in my life. It’s like I have a thousand lives in me that I feel I need to live.

I want to do so much, yet if I don’t focus on one thing I’ll never get anything done. Seriously.

We live in the most distracted time of our history. It’s a beautiful time to be alive and I really feel like we’re living in a new renaissance, but phew…this connected age has me distracted all the time.

I get messages from all over the place and it’s not like I can just ignore them. I mean, seriously, once my mother learned how to send a text message, forget it — my world of staying focused was over.

Because if your mother sends you a message you can’t ignore it, right?

If I do, I’ll get five more messages by the next morning of her worrying whether or not I’m still alive.

Text messages, tweets, Facebook, Instagram — and now, wait…Periscope?

It’s never ending. And I don’t want to be unplugged because as much as being plugged in to the connected world makes it difficult to focus, it also allows for truly amazing connections to happen.

I get to talk to you, for instance.

I can speak with my mother who lives far away. I can literally tweet an Italian grandmother if I want a truly authentic Italian recipe. That’s amazing.

So, when it comes to focus and staying on your own path, here are a few thoughts:

It was 5am and I had already been cycling indoors for an hour. With two more hours to go for my triathlon training, I downloaded one podcast after another.

Listening to podcasts became my choice of infotainment during exercise, driving to work, and when working on tasks that didn’t require intricate thought.

Listening to a podcast is like feeding two birds with one scone. I’m learning something by listening to meaningful content while also exercising, commuting, or doing something else.

Back then I didn’t know I would find podcasting to be part of my purpose. I certainly didn’t think I’d ever create a podcast that hit the top 5 list in Business and Career Planning. You see, I’m a connector at heart. I love hearing a person’s story. When I listen to someone’s story, I immediately think of others who they should talk to to help them on their journey.

I love connecting people. I believe conversations with the right people can help us grow and rise to a new level of actualization (to use Maslowian terms).

That’s why I’ve gone to launch not one or two, but three podcasts.

There’s just something so exhilarating about a podcast launch. It’s a new level of exhilaration and equally terrifying at the same time.

This is the third one I’ve done and there are a few things I wish I knew back when I launched my first podcast.